Monday Classics: The Pisco Sour

There are few drinks that encapsulate the idea of a classic cocktail in quite the same way as a whiskey sour does. Beneath a thick head of foam dotted with angostura bitters, there lies that refreshing blend of sugar and citrus that can be so incredibly satisfying. Maybe that’s why barman Victor Vaughen Morris immediately out a version of the whiskey sour on his bar menu when he opened the Morris Bar in Lima back in 1903. Since he was in Peru, Morris had Pisco at his disposal, which is an unaged brandy distilled from leftover grapes, and the early version of the Pisco Sour was born. It was refined in the 1920s by bartender Mario Bruige when he added the egg white and the bitters.

The original recipe includes Pisco, lime, a 2:1 simple syrup, an egg white, and Angostura bitters. For my version of the Pisco sour, I decided to bring in just a bit of heat by adding Ancho Reyes chili liqueur and Barrow’s Intense ginger liqueur. I also changed the bitters to Hella’s Smoked Chili flavor which further intensified the spice and heat that I was going for. This version captures the original’s sweet and sour tang, but there’s an added layer of complexity that comes from the spice, smoke, and heat.